Love Metal
Love Metal is the fourth full length album by HIM released on April 14th, 2003 in Europe through BMG. Distribution came later for the U.S. on February 1st, 2005 through Universal Records licensed by Jimmy Franks Recording Company. This is the first HIM album to not feature Ville Valo on the cover. Instead, it features the Heartagram with a circle around it. The album is notable for being mastered much more quietly then their other records and than most metal albums too. The title is derived from the band wanting to express what they feel their genre of music is while keeping reporters quiet after growing tired of always being asked of the genre. Recording History The recording for this album began on September 16th, 2002 at Finnvox Studios in Helsinki. Migé and Linde recorded their parts then and Ville did the vocals later on in October. "Buried Alive by Love" and "Sweet Pandemonium" were mixed at the end of October in London by Tim Palmer. The rest of the tracks were done in Los Angeles in November and December. Original Track Listing ---- # "Rescue" # "Circle of Fear" # "Endless Dark" # "Funeral of Hearts" # "This Fortress of Tears" # "The Heart of Darkness" # "The Sacrament" # "Soul on Fire" # "Sweet Pandemonium" # "Beyond Redemption" # "Through The Darkness" "Rescue" was the original title for "Buried Alive by Love", "The Heart of Darkness" was "Love's Requiem" and "Through The Darkness" being "The Path." Touring Love Metal Preview Show ---- On January 31st, 2003 it was announced on the official web site Heartagram.com that the band would be doing an album pre-launch show on March 8th at the Grosse Freiheit Club in Hamburg, Germany. This show was done to debut the new record to the audience before it was released a month later in April. The special thing about this show was that the entire album was going to be performed in it's entirety from beginning to end. Ville mentioned this would be the first and last time something like would be done of this nature. Tickets were distributed freely to fans by filling out a reservation form on Heartagram's web site. Track Listings International Releases Limited Edition Digipak # "Buried Alive by Love" - 4:00 # "The Funeral of Hearts" - 4:30 # "Beyond Redemption" - 4:28 # "Sweet Pandemonium" - 5:46 # "Soul on Fire" - 4:02 # "The Sacrament" - 4:32 # "This Fortress of Tears" - 5:47 # "Circle of Fear" - 5:27 # "Endless Dark" - 5:36 # "The Path" - 7:45 # "Love's Requiem" - 8:36 Regular Edition # "Buried Alive by Love" - 4:00 # "The Funeral of Hearts" - 4:30 # "Beyond Redemption" - 4:28 # "Sweet Pandemonium" - 5:46 # "Soul on Fire" - 4:02 # "The Sacrament" - 4:32 # "This Fortress of Tears" - 5:47 # "Circle of Fear" - 5:27 # "Endless Dark" - 5:36 # "The Path" - 7:45 U.S. Releases Regular Edition # "Buried Alive by Love" - 4:00 # "The Funeral of Hearts" - 4:30 # "Beyond Redemption" - 4:28 # "Sweet Pandemonium" - 5:46 # "Soul on Fire" - 4:02 # "The Sacrament" - 4:32 # "This Fortress of Tears" - 5:47 # "Circle of Fear" - 5:27 # "Endless Dark" - 5:36 # "The Path" - 7:45 Album Credits * Produced by: Hiili Hiilesmaa with HIM. * Engineered by: Hiili at Finnvox, Helsinki, Finland. * Mixed by: Tim Palmer. * Mix engineer: Mark O'Donoughue. * Mixed at: Scream Studios, Studio City, CA. * Assisted by: Alex Uychocde. * Except tracks 1 & 4 mixed at Sphere Studios, London England. * Assisted by: Nick Friend. * Mastered by: George Marino at Sterling Sound, NYC. * Asko Kallonen: Asko Kallonen. * Cover art by: Natas Pop with Valo. * Management: Seppo Vesterinen for Hinterland. * All songs by: Valo/published by Heartagram. Notes International Releases Limited Edition Digipak * Besides the bonus track included on the album, when the lyric booklet is unfolded if you turn it to the other side you get a nice mini glossy poster of the band on stage from the filming of the music video for "Buried Alive By Love". * When placed into a CD-Rom drive you can view the music video for "The Funeral of Hearts." This is also on the European jewel case release. External Links * Love Metal releases at HIM CD DATABASE * Way Back Machine: Love Metal Reservation Form Category: HIM albums